The Smashing Machine

• Director: Benny Safdie
• Writer: Benny Safdie
• Starring: Dwayne Johnson, Emily Blunt, Ryan Bader

Grade: B-

Boxing is an inherently cinematic format, a sport where one man or woman puts their mind and body on the line in a quest for glory. Mixed martial arts cranks the sport and its stakes up exponentially, and writer-director Benny Safdie’s The Smashing Machine spares nothing to show the inherent brutality and all its costs. Here is a sport where blood, sweat, tears, and a broken bone or two literally comes with the territory. But it takes more than raw physicality to make an enduring MMA film, and it requires a deeper story worth telling to break the mold of the typical sports drama.